Annabel Jankel

Annabel Jankel (born 1 June 1955), also known as AJ Jankel, is a British film and TV director who first came to prominence as a music video director and the co-creator of the pioneering cyber-character Max Headroom.[1] She is the sister of musician and songwriter Chaz Jankel, who is best known as a member of new wave band Ian Dury & The Blockheads.

Jankel co-created Max Headroom, a cult cyberpunk character that evolved into multiple TV productions and became very influential in science fiction TV and impacted popular culture in the 1980s. Jankel and Morton first created and directed The Max Talking Headroom Show - an entertainment program that featured comedic sequences, interviews conducted by the Headroom cyber-character and music videos. (Channel 4 - UK and HBO - US). This led to the TV film Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future, also directed by the duo. The TV film in turn inspired the ABCMax Headroom US TV series.

Following D.O.A., Jankel and Morton directed the film, Super Mario Bros., a film based on the video game of the same name starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper. The film was set in a dark post-apocalyptic interpretation of the Mushroom Kingdom, as distinct from the colourful cartoonish setting of the game. It was panned by critics, receiving almost universally negative reviews. As of May 2013, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 16% of critics gave positive reviews based on 32 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Despite flashy sets and special effects, Super Mario Bros. is too light on story and substance to be anything more than a novelty."[8]Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two thumbs down on the television program Siskel & Ebert At the Movies,[9] and the film was on their list for one of the worst films of 1993.[10] Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times disapproved of the film's script.[11] However, Hal Hinson of the Washington Post gave a positive review, praising the film for its spirit and later went on to say, "In short, it's a blast."[12] Janet Maslin of The New York Times gave another positive review, but said that the film "doesn't have the jaunty hop-and-zap spirit of the Nintendo video game from which it takes – ahem – its inspiration."[13]

In 2009 Jankel produced and directed an adaptation of the Carnegie and Whitbread award-winning novel Skellig by David Almond[verification needed], a well received[verification needed] $5.3M Sky1 HD Easter Special feature-length production for TV broadcast and subsequent international theatrical distribution, starring Tim Roth, John Simm, Kelly Macdonald, Bill Milner and Skye Bennett.

In 2011 Jankel directed the 52-minute 3D show "Live On Air" shown on Sky3D Atlantic and Sky Arts, featuring the band Elbow, in rehearsal and performing at the 02 centre.